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Feb 14, 2012

Bleep Years day eight: Luke Vibert's remix of Jamie Lidell's A Little Bit More (2006)

Bleep Years is a random hop around 20 years of musical history to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this website. Those figures don't quite make sense. Then again, I don't give 37 flying frogs so let's get on with it, shall we?

2006: Jamie Lidell's A Little Bit More (Luke Vibert remix)

After making his name as Wagon Christ in the 1990s, Luke Vibert became a kind of brother-in-acid with the more famous Aphex Twin. His best tracks included the seriously crunchy anthem I Love Acid, from the YosepH album, and the big beat goofiness of Lovely, from the Tally Ho! album.

Meanwhile, singer Jamie Lidell was furrowing his own strange path, veering off from the predictable career path of soul singers and setting his musical satnav for the likes of Warp Records and Simian Mobile Disco. He added energetic layers of beatbox and loops in compelling live solo performances. And his voice was dead sexy.

Vibert's remix of A Little Bit More mixed the techno mania with Lidell's soaring vocals, and it's impossible to see how that collaboration could have been achieved by any other pairing. It also best represented Warp Records move from purist electronica into other styles of music (hence releases from Battles and Grizzly Bear).

I've chosen this track because it is such a massive tune, with an electronic backing that is as distinctive and as memorable as the vocal melody. No big emotional pull. No X Factor-style back story. Just, y'know, CHOONiness. Have an ear-peek...